1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a clamp, and more particularly, it relates to an interchangeable clamp having a plurality of interchangeable members which may be secured together to provide a clamp frame having a predetermined configuration.
2. Description of Related Art
In the sewing industry, a common repetitive function is to sew a label onto a workpiece of material. For example, this would be a common procedure when sewing a manufacturer's label onto a workpiece, such as a shirt or jacket. A clamp is typically used to force the label against the workpiece and also against a sewing surface of a sewing machine. The sewing machine then moves the workpiece and label under an oscillating needle in order to sew the label onto the workpiece with a predetermined stitch pattern. The clamp was also used to secure either the label or the workpiece against the sewing surface so that the predetermined stitch pattern could be sewn thereon. The clamps of the prior art had a defined clamping configuration which could not be adjusted to accommodate labels of different shapes or to accommodate different predetermined stitch patterns. Accordingly, a user was required to maintain an inventory of clamps for each workpiece shape and for each predetermined stitch pattern. Maintaining such an inventory of clamps was expensive.
Still another problem is that the programmable sewing machine had to be shut down whenever the interchangeable clamp had to be changed due to a change in either the predetermined stitch pattern or the workpiece shape. This downtime resulted in lost production and labor time.